A New Era
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: After the invasion...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I don't own independence day, even though I think its one of the greatest alien attack movies out in the world. **

**A New Era.**

President Thomas Whitmore stood outside Area 51, the secret air base wasn't a secret anymore. Everyone knew about it now, and the phenomenal history it had. Whitmore was going to make sure that that history would become part of real world history, no more secrets. No more games.

Too many people had paid a terrible enough price already, and next time the cost may be infinitely higher.

Tom knew that many wouldn't find that idea very popular, but he couldn't care less. The world, not just America, had been very nearly destroyed. The aliens had wiped out millions, cities were in ruins, the survivors held the future of the human race in their hands. There was no place for secrecy, not anymore. Humanity's innocence, once irritating, and in many ways, irrational was no longer going to be tolerated.

Whitmore was determined that the few remaining resources that Earth had left wouldn't be used for the petty little wars and disputes humanity embroiled itself with on a daily basis before the invasion began. Mankind had higher concerns now.

Whitmore took a look at the sky. Space looked so peaceful, though a few months ago the human race, indeed the whole planet seemed so small. Then they came, the aliens who'd arrived to conquer them, destroy them, steal their resources, leaving behind a lifeless husk before going on their way to another world. Tom frowned as he recalled the brutal mind rape he'd received from the alien who Captain Hiller had shot down and knocked unconscious.

The memories of the brutality and sheer viciousness of the aliens filled the president with a horror the couldn't be described in mere words.

Whitmore recalled the innocent beings the aliens had slaughtered, their technologies must have been hundreds of years in advance of humanity, but it was to no avail. The other aliens had been wiped out. The invaders had looted their worlds, pillaged them like grave robbers, tearing the planets apart before moving on.

It seemed that Humanity had won the first round. Whitmore knew that if one alien race was inherently hostile then others were, but he was certain that others were far more peaceful, maybe some races who'd managed, somehow, to repel the invaders who'd arrived to rape the Earth, killing the inhabitants as they attacked in their ships.

Whitmore looked out into space, knowing that humanity had had a close call.

The Human race would survive, but before that they needed to rebuild, share resources, build technology to ensure the protection and continued survival of the human race. Space held the future of humanity, the moon, the planets in the solar system held resources that humanity needed, but they needed to rebuild their cities, rebuild the earth since the planet had been suffering just as much as her children. It would be a long, arduous and difficult trek, but Whitmore was confident it would happen eventually.

Already, plans were being set into motion. The leaders of the planet, the ones that were left anyway, were already making arrangements to rebuild the cities although many treasures, art, culture, literature and history were now lost to the world.

It was tragic, but Whitmore knew that _things_ were no longer important, the essence of the human race had survived. The rebuilding of the human race was only a matter of time.

30 years later.

Patricia Whitmore stood in the observation lounge with the rest of the V. I. Ps overlooking the launch of the first faster than light deep space cruiser. The ship was long, lenticular in design, with no obvious engines, but Patricia was more than aware that this ship would hold the future of humanity in its grasp.

Patricia mused as she watched the ship, large, silver, and highly advanced. The last 30 years had been gruelling, the cities of the Earth had been rebuilt, rather quickly but then again, everyone had pitched in, making the job all the more easier to manage.

France and America, along with 4 other major countries - they still had countries for traditionalists, even though the old order was now long since dead to the world - had pioneered the new space programs, launching the first fully functional anti gravity space planes and travelling to the Moon, later on Mars and later on, other bodies in the solar system.

Colonies had been established on the Moon, which were mainly there for pure research. If you want to live and journey out into space, wouldn't it be wiser to know more about the nature of the necessities of space living ?

The moon and Martian colonies set the guidelines for space exploration, the achievements of the colonies allowed for the building of the hyperspace drive. The drive used dimensional technology, pioneered thanks to the work of the LHC - Large Hadron Collider, the device used a combination of human and alien hardware, the device allowed the means of travelling through space, bypassing Einstein's theory of relativity and travelling many times faster than the speed of light.

A man's voice broke her out of her thoughts, " Miss Whitmore ?"

Patricia turned, seeing a youngish man wearing a white lab coat, " Yes ?"

" We're ready, " the man said, blushing at meeting one of the most influential women on Earth. The Whitmores had pioneered and spearheaded the movement to rebuild the Earth from the attack of the aliens. Patricia's heart clenched, even though her expression hadn't changed.

It was impossible for her not to think about her mother when she turned her mind back to the aliens. The death of her mother was an aching wound, one that Patricia would never be able to heal.

" Right, thank you, " Patricia said briskly, making sure that her words were gentle and soft. She could see that the man giving her the critical message was terrified.

" 20 years ago, Earth encountered the most fearsome foe ever. The event we now refer to as ID4, named after the Independence day holiday of the United States of America, is now a time where the Human race on the whole celebrates the victory against the aliens." The Spokesman of the space program said to the crowd, both here on the space station and to those on the mother planet.

Patricia watched and listened as he went on, the memories flooding her mind…..

…waking up, speaking to her mother. Her father playfully calling her " traitor " after Patricia told her busy mother that she'd been watching TV.

…Her father holding her tightly on Air force one, the plane shaking…

….seeing the alien ship and alien corpses in Area 51, their trailing fingers and entrails setting into her mind, but her terror quenched by childlike curiosity…..

….her mother lying on a bed, looking weak and helpless…..

…her father coming out, " Is mommy sleeping ?" she asked. In a broken voice, he confirms her fears…

Patricia shook herself out of the memories. All that mattered was the here and now.

The spokesman carried on, " Since that time where millions died, and the world rebuilt itself anew, Mankind has come a long way. We have set up colonies on the Moon and on Mars, we are building new ships to colonise and explore space. The first of these ships, the Stephen Hiller, named after one of the many heroes of that conflict, shall be on the frontlines of knowledge…."

On and on it went, until at last the ship was launched. Patricia, who'd witnessed the fiery entrance of the invaders, smiled as she witnessed the launch of the Stephen Hiller, a good man and a good friend. She only hoped he and Aunt Jasmine were happy.

But for now, that ship represented the future.

A new era.


	2. Chapter 2

The advance of humanity in the galaxy took 5 years to gather momentum, this momentum earned the name the Great Breakout. Space exploration was rapid, one system after another was surveyed thoroughly, all the planets resources and life forms, if any, were catalogued and recorded. The survey information was sent back to Space Command on Earth for analysis, the powers that governed the space movement would decide whether or not planetary colonisation to those planets were viable or not. In many cases, many planets were found to have some element which was hostile to Human life; a plant, a spore, an animal, an insect with a bite incurable by human science, or the atmosphere had some toxicity that couldn't be overcome. But there was, of course for obvious reasons, a need for viable colonies. The planets that were uninhabitable by humans later received a protective dome that mined the planet, stripping it bare, showing that every problem has a solution, no matter how crude.

Earth's resources, already exhausted and polluted after the 3 day conflict with the ID4 alien invasion, were in high demand. New resources were desperately needed for sustaining the mother planet. Mining colonies in asteroid belts were established, their resources holding ores like iron, cobalt, some highly unremarkable ores in all, but nothing was wasted. The time of Human wastefulness was long since over; energy, minerals, anything and everything was precious. The air we breathed, the food in our fields and the water we drank was all precious, the arrogant greed of the Human race had been beaten out, the wasteful intercecine conflicts of the past - World War 1, World War 2...they ended after people saw that war only split humanity up, the memory of having everything, and later nothing had long since become a race memory. It was highly improbable that that would ever change, after 90 years it had become second nature. Humankind had united in a way no one could've predicted; it would've been more than welcome if the catalyst for this had been something less destructive than an invasion from a hostile race. The ID 4 attack made the Human race do the following; unite; unity is strength, and together any obstacle can be overcome, Humanity must preserve what it has, by any cost, Humanity caused massive screw ups on Earth - damaging and not caring about the environment, wasting resources and food, not caring about the sick and inferm. War between humans must never happen again. It took decades, but finally mankind found ways around conflicts without resorting to war and violence. It wasn't exactly utopia, but it was close enough.

Planetary colonisation, those two words become synonymous with the survival of the human race and the animal species of Earth, terraformation projects, already enriched by the early experiments on planets like Mars and Venus. Terraformers later used devices with genetic capability, enabling rapid colonisation needs after the planet had been restructured by the geo probes, devices that manipulated the planets crust and structure, enabling the creation of oceans, rivers, islands, and continents. The genetic manipulation of the planet's atmosphere enabled earth plants and lifeforms to actually thrive on alien worlds, transforming them into pure Human homeworlds.

As the amount of space was charted, explored and colonised, Earth came into contact with various aliens and technologies. In the first decade of space travel, many on Earth, and on later colonies, were fearful that their defensive capabilities, which were still crude, would be unable to withstand an assault from an alien race. Hence the reason for the infamous article Priority find.

It worked like a salvage law, any alien artefact was to be sent directly to a laboratory in Earth space, an asteroid. The reason for this was out of fear that an artefact might destroy the ancestral home of the Human race, something that must be avoided at all costs.

It wasn't just in space that Humans found alien technologies; there were pieces on Earth, and many planets out in the galaxy, waiting to be found. Indeed, many technologies used by the early pioneers were derived from alien science. Weapons, instruments, metals, computers, all came from basic alien hardware. But it wasn't enough. Alien labs were set up throughout earth space, on asteroids, moons, and some planets. 50 years after the launch of the first wave, the next generation of ships were 5 times more advanced, their technologies gleaned from the scavenged technology of many alien races.

**An extract from **_**Space: After ID4. **_


End file.
